Day 13

States visited: left New Mexico, passed back into Texas, then back into New Mexico, and finally Arizona.

Sites seen: Michael and Sara’s House, AMARC, Mt. Lemmon

Today has been a lovely day! We decided to sleep in, which was lovely, and then headed off to my brother’s house in Arizona. The girls were super excited to get here and to see Madie and Paige.

I didn’t realize how much I missed home, or a real home-like feel, until we got here. It’s so nice to see family, be able to sit on a couch, hang out without melting to death, and eat something other than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and hot dogs. Thank you, Sara, for a lovely dinner!!

After dinner, we decided to take a drive up Mt. Lemmon to see the sunset. On the way there, we passed the AMARC (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center). This is often called the “boneyard” and is home to about 4,200 aircraft currently and covers about 2600 acres. It was crazy to see so many aircraft, and such big aircraft, just sitting in one place.

Heading up the mountain was breathtaking. Such a different landscape than I grew up with and where I live now.

Once at the top, we could walk around, explore a little, and take lots of photos. But seriously, pictures don’t do any of this justice. The summit of this mountain is around 9,000 feet. It is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountain Range and is located in the Coronado National Forest. Between the bottom of the mountain and the top, the temperature dropped 30 degrees. It was glorious!!

It’s been such a lovely day hanging with family. Just what we needed after 13 days on our great American road trip.

Looking forward to sleeping in a bed tonight and taking a real shower! Tomorrow we head to the Grand Canyon!

Talk to you soon-

Deanna